Fire Hall In Long Park

Apr.29,2014

There’s A Fire Hall Being Built In Long Park?

On Sunday, April 27th 2014, I received a notice (from a neighbor, I’m assuming) in my mailbox about some changes happening on the next street over. But I’m a little confused as to what this notice is trying to say, or complain about.

Let me explain.

Last year (I think it was last year), we received a notice from the City of Windsor in our mailbox about the lot on the next street over which goes by the name of Long Park. Long Park has St. Bernard Elementary School on it. This property is rather large and it sits alongside Most Precious Blood Catholic Church.

In the notice from the city that we received, there were plans for a new school to be built and the old school demolished, as well as a through-street put in and houses built throughout the property as well. I don’t recall a date on which this construction was supposed to begin. It may have only been a proposal at the time. I can’t go back and reference because I most likely recycled the notice shortly after receiving it.

Anyhow, that’s the last I heard about it. I had been wondering, but never looked into it. It wasn’t really at the top of my ‘concerns’ list.

So now, we get this notice, which I can only assume that it was from a concerned neighbor on the next street over, which overlooks the school/park property. In the notice was concern about a new fire hall being built on the Long Park property. But I’m not exactly sure of what the concern is.

Therein lies my problem.

As a blogger, and that’s what I’ve become (whether I like it or not), a blogger, I can’t just sit on this, I HAVE to write something about it. Who knows, maybe me writing about this might clarify the situation. Or, it might just raise more questions. I don’t really care about that. What I care about is writing my thoughts on it and trying to clarify it in my own mind. If that helps others out, then great, I feel good about that; and if it confuses people more, I’m sorry.

I applaud the effort whoever wrote the notice made, I really do, and anything I say to it is not to make fun in any way, I’m just trying to clarify what the issue is that is being complained about and why it’s so important to make this fuss. I’m just confused is all. I might even be concerned if the issues that are raised here were clear; which they’re not.

This is a scan of the notice I received in my mailbox that was hand delivered, no doubt, by a concerned neighbor. It concerns the building of a new Fire Hall in Long Park which was previously proposed to have housing built on it as well as a new school to replace the decrepit St. Bernard elementary school which is there now. I’m confused as to the main concern and why this is a bad thing.

Honestly, no, I didn’t know that they had been planning to build a new fire hall, an no I had no clue that they were planning to use that property (I still thought it was going to be houses, to be honest). So, thank you for bringing that to my attention; it’s greatly appreciated.

I don’t have an issue with a fire hall behind my house; not an issue at all. In fact, I think it’s a good thing. It’s a great location for them, and it only makes the neighborhood that much safer. That’s how I feel. My psychic senses tell me it’s a good thing.

Yes, I know that when they get called for a fire or an accident, that there will be some noise, but that comes with the area in the first place. Ok, so now it’ll just be a little louder and a little more often. So what?

But, what is the concern? Really? Is it everything listed in the letter, or is it one thing more than the rest? I’m confused.

There’s mention of it costing $9,000,000 (nine-million dollars) to build it. There’s mention of 2 other fire halls being closed down and merged into this proposed new fire hall. And those 2 fire halls are not being sold off or repurposed. Mention of other communities that repurposed other city owned buildings and made them into fire halls rather than building new ones. There’s mention of 2 other fire halls to be built in other areas of the city, one of which has been delayed to 2015, and the other delayed due to environmental issues regarding species of animals at risk. I’m pretty sure the main issue, from what I can determine from what I read, is that they want to start construction NOW on this and the residents facing the lot were given extremely short notice. That’s what I get out of this.

I can feel the rage, the frustration more than anything, the anger, the anxiety over this through the notice, I really can. But it’s not clear. I just think that if it was worded a bit better and wasn’t jumping all over the place that it would’ve sent a better message to the rest of us around here that may or may not know what’s going on.

I’m not the best writer in the world, but I do like to make sure I at least try to keep on track and keep my points together when I write anything. I like to make sure that what I say can be easily followed and understood. But I by no means, am an expert writer. I just write what comes to me, but then go over it to be sure it’s clear. And as always, I do apologize if I went off track or got out of order myself.

It looks and feels as though the frustration of the situation got the best of whoever wrote the notice and it was completely rushed out. And I can understand the rush, don’t get me wrong. They were putting these in mailboxes telling other neighbors of a meeting scheduled for two days later, April 29th at Most Precious Blood Church. Which is fair, this concerns more than just the people overlooking Long Park. It’s just not clear about the concerns and how much others should be concerned.

There’s not even any contact information for who wrote it. The only contact information is for the news (CTV News Line and Windsor News Line), the City of Windsor (311), and our ward councilor Ed Sleiman. I would think that if someone had a worthy cause they would want to be contacted about it so that people can get more information from them. Again, I’m confused.

I can’t clear up my confusion because of the lack of information on who wrote it. My biggest concern is wanting to know what this person’s, or these people’s issue is with the building of a fire hall right there. That’s all. I just want to know, because the notice isn’t clear, in any way.

Sorry (not really sorry), but I think a fire hall being built here is a good thing. I feel in my heart it’s a good thing.

Something I want to point out, the feeling I get (and this may be my claircognizance kicking in) is that the rush being placed on building this fire hall in the Long Park location is because the plans for building in that area, with the new school and the housing, is scheduled to begin now and there was no choice but to rush the fire hall because if they didn’t grab the property NOW, then it wouldn’t be available once construction began. It’s a “now or never” type deal; an opportunity that would not be there for long. I can see the reasoning behind such quick movement in this direction if this is the case (which I feel it is). They may have even paid a little extra to secure the portion of the property that will be used for this fire hall.

I can see the rush, with that being the case; it makes sense.

As for the old fire halls, they haven’t decided yet what they’re doing, whether or not they’ll be re-commissioning them so of course they’re not being repurposed or sold off… yet.

Whatever the case may be, I don’t see the problem.

If this fire hall notice was meant to outrage the neighborhood, I’m not sure what kind of an impact it had, because the impact it had in this house was a reaction of “That’s great! I think it’s a wonderful idea to put a fire hall there!” I’m sure that was not the intention.

The more I look over this notice, the more I get the feeling that either it’s the construction that this person is bothered by or it’s the fire hall itself that may be an “eyesore”. The titles read: “It’s a beautiful day in OUR neighbourhood.” & “But.. That’s changing soon.” But then it ends with “For your information:” (which also confuses me) with a list of numbers to call, and next to that, the last line, which does NOT go along with the first title’s concern “So why the rush now? To build a building which does not measure up to basic principles of good planning?”

“For your information”, which is where part of my total confusion comes from. You see, if it’s asking for information from you, then it should be more clear, but if it’s giving places for you to call to find out more about what’s going on (ex. for “more” information), then what do the news places have anything to do with it? Isn’t calling the city or the council good enough? If they mean you can call these places to give your input, then it should say just that. Again, this causes confusion.

The layout itself of this notice screams of “template” (which is fine, nothing wrong with that) with places to fill in for image and paragraphs, with the fancy header and footer. Just pointing that out, and that may be why it’s all over the place. It could be just that in filling in the pre-made template, trying to fill in all the spots, it made things jump all over and make less sense. (I just want to reiterate, I’m NOT making fun of who wrote this; I’m just noting how and why it was written and potentially the reason(s) why it’s not so clear!)

Again, confusion as to the concerns of this individual, or group of individuals. If you want me to be outraged at something, please be clear as to what you want me to be outraged about. It’s not clear. I know you tried hard, and I applaud you for standing up for what you believe in. I promote that kind of effort and wish more people would do that. I thank you for that and want you to keep fighting for what you believe in. I just wish it was more clear, that’s all.

As it is, THIS article is being rushed out, because this is happening now! I can only hope that my words and my message are clear to all of you reading this. If there is any concern with what I have written, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll be more than happy to respond.